http://www.thesudburystar.com/2017/02/14/tories-target-the-north

Move on Ring of Fire

Asked about his vision for development in the Northern Ontario Ring of Fire, a massive deposit of chromite and other minerals in the James Bay Lowlands, Brown said the province must do its part to speed up the process.

Noront Resources and KWG Resources, two major players in the Ring, recently laid out their plans for development there. Noront hopes to start small with a road while mining nickel, copper and a small amount of chromite to sell in the northeastern United States, while KWG prefers a railroad to move large quantities of chromite.

Chromite is a key component in the manufacture of stainless steel.

"This needs to be done, obviously, in co-ordination with indigenous communities and local municipalities, but we have been waiting five years," Brown said. "What I'm saying is this can't be delayed further and what we would want is to expedite that investment. Everyone's got to be at the table for that, but we can't be sitting and waiting another five years. We have had three announcements that shovels were about to go in the ground, three re-announcements in five years, and there are no shovels in the ground.

"As far as rail to road, those are options we would welcome looking at with all the stakeholders involved."